Up and Down the Dial

Remember the radio? It's still out there – on the air. Town to town and up and down the dial, it’s still there even though a lot of people don't listen to it anymore. They get their music from streaming platforms and their talk from podcasts.  I do a lot of that myself.  I really enjoy listening to my customized playlists – songs I have purchased by the single or by the album and have crafted into specialized soundtracks for my different moods and activities.  

But, the other day, I turned on the radio in my car while I was driving.  I scanned along the dial, stopping whenever I heard a good song. Eventually, I stopped on what turned out to be a classic rock station. The song's lyrics are engraved in my mind from years of listening, and I sang and car-danced and passed the time. Then, another song by the same artist came on, and a streak of nostalgia shot out of the speakers! Are you familiar with Two for Tuesday?  That, my friends, is one of the best ideas in music.

Two for Tuesday

Instead of playing a regular playlist made up of single songs from different bands, on Two for Tuesday, deejays play a pair of songs from the same band. You get two songs from one artist at a time. When I was a teenager, only one local station did that, so two-fors (pronounced toofer) were a novelty – something new and distinctive. But now, with almost unlimited access to music, why do I find Two for Tuesday so terrific still? I don't know. It's not like I'm getting something for free.  Unlike most of the streaming services, radio is free already.  Perhaps it is still the novelty of it.

But let's take a minute and look at that. What is it about novelty? About the excitement of new things? I think it is because when something is new, we can learn. Whoa. Think about that. When we are exploring the features of a new thing, our brains are challenged, engaged.  And, unlike studying for tests in your least favorite subject, you can interact with something you want to know more about.  The interaction between this new, exciting entity and our brains releases chemicals that make us feel happy, excited, curious, and successful.

Quite often, the novelty of things wears off, though. Rings aren't as shiny. Relationships aren't as meaningful. Cars need maintenance, and so do pets.  Children (and adults) get tired of toys that initially made them so excited that they interacted with them to the exclusion of all other things. Maybe we get bored easily. But, we aren't the first generations to lose interest in things that were once sparkly and new.

 Every day was Manna Monday.

Think about manna in the Bible. Manna was a novelty at first. It was food that fell from the sky, and the Israelites were so excited about it that God had to tell them to gather only enough for one day. I can imagine that people waited up at night to see if they could catch manna drifting down peacefully from the velvety sky full of sparks of light. Did they think that manna was a product of the stars?  Did they think God pulled it from the clouds? Did children try to catch it like snowflakes on their tongues?  Or, perhaps they watched the ground, waiting for the dew to change into the food. Maybe they were even afraid at first. We don't know. But we can assume they were thankful they did not have to forage food in the desert. Food that tasted like honeyed wafers was delivered to the ground around their tents! (Exodus 16:31). They could gather it and bake it or boil it or grind it and make other types of food.

Then, after a while, the novelty wore off.  No longer was there eager expectation for the food from Heaven. Why? They were tired of it (Numbers 11). They whined and complained. They had grown tired of making manna a million ways. Thirty-minute manna meals, gourmet manna and goat milk, manna on a budget, baked manna, boiled manna, fried manna, manna helper…. Well, you get the idea. Do we think badly of them for that? Probably. But, if you have ever tried to eat leftovers for only a week, you might have some of the same thoughts they had.

 God is not a novelty.

If you walk with The Lord, do you remember when you first got saved? Many times, right after our salvation, we are excited to learn more about God.  There is so much to learn, too!  We learn of His mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love. We experience the depths of scripture, songs, worship, and prayer. And, because we are human, the shiny can wear off that, too. 

But, God is not a novelty.  He is the God who is and was and is to come! (Revelation 1:8) Each day can be new and exciting with Him. What are some ways to do that? It's very similar to how people keep the excitement in other relationships. We can make it a point to work on communication, spend time alone, remember the early days, set goals together, and look for small things to appreciate. We can also keep ourselves stirred up to learn more.  We can remind ourselves of the excitement of our first days in our relationship with God.  

Don't let the novelty of the goodness of God wear off.  Our relationship with Him is not meant to be stagnant. It is intended to be dynamic and alive. As you intentionally spend time with Him, look for toofers and double what you expect. Find new things in God, in your life, and even on the radio.